


In This Moment

by RobinLC



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, My First Work in This Fandom, Snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:54:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinLC/pseuds/RobinLC
Summary: Five times Regina is subtle about wanting Emma.One time she's not.Rated Explicit because chapter 2 will be an absolute smutfest and I am not sorry.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 23
Kudos: 209





	In This Moment

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first SwanQueen fanfiction and I haven't watched the show in a while, so I have absolutely no clue when this takes place in the timeline. Safe to say it's all over! Also probably a bit OOC but hopefully not glaringly so. This is almost entirely SwanQueen, only two other characters show up and they're barely there. 
> 
> I decided to write the one time Regina's not subtle as a separate chapter because it's going to be a smutfest. It might take me a while to write as I haven't written in a few years, so I hope I won't disappoint! I will add tags as I go. Some language but nothing too bad. I'm not very good with tagging so any tips welcome. Fair warning: English is not my first language. Leave reviews if you like it!

**1.** ****

Emma stifles a yawn and takes another sip of coffee. She’s definitely had way too much caffeine, especially at this time of night, but that quarterly budget report isn’t going to re-write itself. She curses under her breath as she studies the same page for what feels like the millionth time. Regina’s remarks are written in clear, decisive handwriting. All of her many, elaborate remarks are.

“How did this happen to me?” she wonders miserably, dropping her head on her desk. This is worse than the papers she’d get back from teachers back in high school. That was just homework, and she never really cared about it. There were definitely times she spent more of her days outside of the grounds than on the school benches. This is different, though. She’s the sheriff now, she has responsibilities. Responsibilities she takes seriously. She wants to show her worth, to the people of Storybrooke, but also to herself. Messing up at school was fine, it was what everyone expected of her, herself included. But she’s an adult now, and shit is real. So she tries to focus again. She can’t help but wonder if Regina was such a hardass on Graham as well.

“Tax dollars hard at work, I see,” a condescending voice fills the office. “Tired, are we?”

Emma groans as she lifts her head from her desk. Speak of the devil. Literally. Emma looks up and really, she should be used to this feeling by now - this feeling of having to use every last straw of her patience not to explode at the utter _arrogance_ of the woman who seems to have made it her mission in life to make Emma’s own miserable, and at the same time being completely floored by her ridiculous beauty and elegance.

“If you would stop giving me back these reports with your completely insane amount of comments on even the tiniest details, I wouldn’t be here on a Friday night. How did you even know I was still here, anyway?” Emma asks suspiciously.

“You forget, Miss Swan, I have eyes everywhere,” Regina points out, her finger vaguely indicating the Sheriff’s station. Emma can’t quite figure out what to make of the smile curling those perfect, soft, entirely too kissable lips. _Ugh._ It’s annoying how attractive this woman is.

Emma shrugs it off, quirks an eyebrow instead and puts on the most disgusting smirk she can muster. “How kinky of you, Madam Mayor,” Emma says suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.

Her words have their desired effect as Regina shudders and rolls her eyes. “Honestly, Miss Swan, how old are you? Maybe you should join Miss Blanchard in class, you could learn a thing or two and maybe write a decent report for once in your life. Henry would do a better job than you at these budget reports.”

Emma counts to ten. Silently. In her head. Deep breaths. Deep. Breaths. “What the HELL is your problem, _Madam Mayor_?!” Her voice booms. “Why do you insist on insulting me every chance you get? My report is perfectly fine and you know it, you just get off on correcting me like you’re my teacher and I’m just some stupid girl you think you can boss around but let me tell you something, that’s not me!” She feels hot with anger, her breathing laboured. “I deserve better than this! I work hard and I deserve better than this constant criticism!”

Regina looks completely unfazed. “Or maybe,” she says, the picture of calm as she saunters over to Emma’s desk. “Maybe I just enjoy seeing you get all… worked up, Sheriff Swan.” One corner of her mouth curls up in a victorious smirk and she exits the room as gracefully as she entered it, leaving a dumbstruck Emma in her wake.

**2.**

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Emma gets out the words as quickly as she can as she jumps out of her car to open the passenger side door for Regina. Her hair is a mess, she hasn’t had breakfast yet and she’s pretty sure she looks like she was run over by a truck. It’s bloody 6 AM, after all. What an ungodly hour.

Regina quirks an eyebrow, not at all impressed by the apology. “Not to worry, Sheriff Swan. I was not expecting you to be here on time.”

Emma bites back a reply as Regina gets into her car, too tired to put up a fight at such a godforsaken hour. She closes the door behind Regina and makes her way back to the driver’s side, frowning as she struggles to understand why she was even opening the door to her less than kind companion in the first place. Surely, Regina can open the door on her own, right? She has magic after all.

Emma’s frown deepens as she starts the car. She turns to look at the mayor. “So your car is in the garage, you said?”

“Yes, Sheriff Swan. Trust me, I would not be requiring your services if I could help it.”

Emma chuckles in disbelief. “Regina… you have _magic_ ,” she points out. “You could just poof yourself to town hall if I’m such bad company. Or you could order literally anyone else to be your personal chauffeur. I know I’d rather be asleep in my bed at this hour than out in the cold with you snarking my ears off.”

Regina quirks an eyebrow and man, if looks could kill? R.I.P. Emma Swan. You will be missed (though not by Regina). “Better start the car, Miss Swan. I don’t want to be late,” she says curtly.

Now Emma simply laughs. “You’re the mayor, Regina. The boss is never late. Besides, I seriously doubt anyone is at town hall yet.”

Regina chooses to ignore that, which honestly sort of surprises Emma. Regina usually has a comeback for everything, and Emma pushes away the realisation that she… _likes_ that about her? She shakes her head. She’s just tired. She’s not thinking straight. Certainly not thinking _straight_ around Regina.

It goes on for days. Emma almost feels like a dog waiting to be called by its owner. Any time of day, Regina might call her and request to be driven somewhere. Not just around Storybrooke, either. The drives are long at times, and Emma can’t help but notice that some of these trips are absolutely pointless. But challenging the mayor on them is even more pointless, as any questions are fended off with a simple “Town business, Miss Swan, I wouldn’t expect you to understand”.

Life has dealt Emma Swan with more than her fair share of surprises, but this is definitely up there with the weirdest shit that has happened to her. Because when they drive, they talk. They have _normal_ conversations, like actual human beings, rather than their usual constant bickering, their perpetual attempts to get the upper hand.

As the days go on, conversation flows more easily and they start to sort of _relax_ around each other. Somehow, this vibe seems to be confined to their car rides.

But Emma’s not complaining. Because as they get more familiar around each other, conversations start to crawl into risqué territory. Emma, not easily shocked, would not ever have believed she’d hear Regina say some of the things that have come out of her mouth. And she is wickedly good at dirty jokes. Who would have thought? On one of these rides, they’ve just been joking about school uniform and teacher or tutor/student fantasies when Emma points out that all the money she’s having to spend on gas won’t be good for the next quarterly budget report. She expects a snarky comeback from Regina, a dig at her intelligence maybe. But Regina just shrugs and says casually that Emma could get herself a math tutor to help out. And then, without missing a beat, but with a look on her face Emma can’t define, she says: “I majored in business, you know. I’m good with numbers.” Emma has to make herself not read into that. Because lord help her if she does.

And Emma is _definitely_ not complaining about the treat she gets whenever Regina gets out of the car. Because she can’t deny the mayor of Storybrooke has one fine behind. It’s perfect, really. And she always takes her time getting out of the car, too. The first few times, Emma doesn’t know where to look, but she decides pretty early on to just enjoy the ride.

After a while, Emma starts to wonder how on earth it’s taking so long to fix Regina’s car. She’s come to enjoy the car rides - not that she’d ever admit it to anyone - but still, this is Regina Mills. The people of Storybrooke are fairly terrified of her. When Regina brings in a car to fix, she’d expect Michael to be fixing it before it could even break down. Emma’s curiosity is piqued and hey, she’s the Sheriff, she should investigate, right?

So she stops by Marine Garage after two weeks to enquire about Regina’s car. Michael looks flustered and slightly horror-struck as he remembers the mayor bringing in her car.

“She didn’t exactly threaten me,” he says, rubbing his neck. He looks around to make sure Billy’s not in earshot when he expands: “But I felt very strongly that I was to take as long as possible to fix her car.” He frowns and then adds: “Although I have to say, it _has_ been a challenge. I can’t really figure out what happened to it. Almost like magic,” he grins sheepishly.

_Almost like magic,_ Emma thinks to herself as she walks over to Granny’s. And why would Regina have told Michael to take as long as possible when they couldn’t stand each other when the car first broke down, and even now they were only tentative friends, the friendship for the most part confined to the car? A car Regina doesn’t even like?

Huh. Weird.

**3.**

A few weeks later, Emma moans unashamedly as she digs into her birthday breakfast: all the sugary and greasy goodness Granny’s has to offer. Her only company is Ruby, who’s busying herself behind the counter as she and Emma chat.

Ruby is the only one who knows about the weird dynamic that has developed between Emma and Regina over these past few weeks. Emma is pretty sure Regina is unaware of that, though. Emma is pretty sure that if Regina were aware, Emma would not be alive. Nor Ruby, for that matter.

Ruby is also the only one who knows about the sexual attraction Emma feels to Regina. She never told her redhead friend, but Ruby just seems to smell these things. She is a wolf after all. Emma had denied it at first, mostly because she hadn’t realised it herself. But then there was that time Regina was wearing that heart-stoppingly tight pencil skirt, open-collared blouse, her hair in a bun with a few strands loose, glasses perched on her nose and suddenly, denying it had seemed beyond pointless. Emma grins at the memory, licking her lips unconsciously.

Ruby thinks, from what Emma’s told her and what she’s witnessed, that the attraction is mutual. Emma thinks Ruby’s being utterly ridiculous when she speaks such nonsense.

“Earth to Emma,” Ruby laughs. “Got the mayor on your mind?”

No sooner has she spoken the words than the bell rings, indicating someone has entered the place. Emma looks up and the piece of pancake she had just stuffed in her mouth falls right out. Regina is wearing a dark green dress that hugs her in _all_ the right places. It looks sinfully good on her. Emma’s mental faculties have simply evaporated. All she can think is _‘I want_ ’.

After Ruby hands her the coffee she had ready for her regular client, Regina walks straight to Emma and scoffs at her choice of breakfast. “Truly, Sheriff, with your diet it will be a miracle if we don’t need a new sheriff in this town in just a few short years. How does your body put up with it?” She reprimands. Had this happened a few weeks ago, Emma would have been up in arms by now. But they’re kinda sorta friends now, and Emma can tell that while Regina means it, she doesn’t intend to piss Emma off. Just to ruffle her feathers a bit.

Emma swallows. “I don’t know.” Then she grins. “My body wants what it wants…” she says suggestively.

Regina seems taken aback for a second, opts for another uninspired scoff, but then she winks at Emma and turns around, sauntering to the door. “Have a nice day, Sheriff Swan.” She still calls her that, a lot, and it _does_ things to Emma. To parts of Emma that really shouldn’t be doing anything at all when she’s out in public.

Emma is completely enchanted by the view, and jumps in her seat at the loud clang of Regina’s keys falling on the floor. Regina mutters under her breath and Emma nearly chokes at what happens next. Regina bends over to pick them up… ever so slowly. So very, very slowly. Her obscenely tight green dress rides up a little, accentuating the curves of her ass. Time seems to have stopped, Emma’s eyes glued to the view. There is no sound and all she can see is that magnificent behind up in the air. Emma feels unbearably warm all over, her mouth dry as her wetness is definitely to be found elsewhere, her blood pulsating, her breath caught in her throat.

Regina takes her sweet time getting back up and _oh my god is she wiggling her ass just a little bit_? Emma must be dreaming. Regina smoothes her dress as she pulls it down a little, her hand lingering on her own ass for just a split second too long and holy mother of god, if Emma’s diet won’t kill her, Regina Mills most definitely will. Emma is throbbing… and not just the vein in her neck.

Regina keeps walking to the door as if nothing happened. Emma is still entranced and barely registers that Regina already has her hand on the door handle when she spins on the spot, facing the sheriff again. Emma raises her eyebrows in awe - she could never do that in high heels. Regina has a sparkle in her eye and a beautiful smile around her gorgeous lips. “How rude of me, Emma.”

When she reaches Emma, she leans down and Emma is hit with that by now familiar yet still intoxicating scent that is so uniquely Regina (and a little bit apples). Also, boobs. Right in her face. Not enough cleavage by far to be indecent, but with Regina so close and slightly bending over her, more than enough to have Emma’s imagination run wild.

Regina leans in closer still and places a deliberate kiss on Emma’s cheek, dangerously close to the corner of her mouth. Regina lingers, again a split second longer than normal, pressing her lips and leaving a very clear mark of deep red lipstick on Emma’s skin. She moves her mouth up to Emma’s ear and Emma closes her eyes as she bites back a moan, her lip hurting, Regina’s hot breath ticking her skin, her scent so inviting, her entire _body_ so inviting. Emma is using every ounce of willpower not to jump the mayor right now.

“Happy birthday, Sheriff Swan,” Regina says softly in her ear. Then she freaking _winks_ at Emma before leaving Granny’s for real this time.

To say Emma is stunned in place would be the understatement of the century. As the door falls in its lock, Ruby blinks as if she too had been enchanted as she witnessed the entire scene.

Ruby walks over to Emma, shaking her head. She’s never seen the mayor like this and it’s hard to rhyme this person with the woman she knows. “Dude,” she whistles to Emma. “Regina is _so_ into you. She even wore your favourite colour.”

Emma wakes up from her trance, whimpering a little at the loss of Regina’s presence. She looks utterly helpless and Ruby really wishes she could take a picture to show Henry and any future Mills-Swan children, but she lets her friend have her moment. After all, this really is not a state her children should see her in.

**4.**

Emma is not as convinced as Ruby that Regina’s into her. Sure, she makes surprising jokes, she acts flirty sometimes. But Emma doesn’t get the impression it’s anyting other than harmless fun to Regina.

Emma is well aware that the mayor knows about the effect she has on her sheriff, and she probably just likes to play around with her a little, maybe boost her ego. Not that her ego needs boosting. Regina Mills is the definition of confidence.

But then the conference happens. Mayor Regina Mills and Sheriff Emma Swan are to represent the local government of Storybrooke at a conference out of town with colleagues from different towns and cities in the area. The drive up there is actually kind of fun. It reminds Emma of the drives on which she took Regina, where they became so much closer. She even convinced Regina to sing along to the radio, and is surprised at how good she sounds. She kind of likes getting to see this side of the mayor that nobody else gets to see. She never would have deemed it possible, but she likes spending time with Regina. She likes spending time with her friend. Admittedly, they still bicker and banter a lot - that’s just who they are. But the bite and the sting that was there when they first met is gone. Honestly, Emma prefers it this way.

Regina is armed with laptop and notebook, taking notes fervently, actively participating in discussions, passionately arguing her points. Emma is content to just witness how hot it all is. Regina admonishes her for it, urging Emma to be more involved lest she embarrass Storybrooke, but that’s kinda hot too.

What’s even hotter is what happens at the hotel bar that first evening. Emma’s already downstairs, not needing nearly as much time as Regina to get ready. They agreed they’d meet each other at the bar, where they’d be talking to their colleagues in a more informal way.

Emma is chatting to a cute brunette from a few towns over, Sheriff Page. They obviously talk shop, comparing their experiences, but they also chat about more mundane things. Emma’s having fun. It doesn’t hurt that Lily is obviously flirting with her. Emma’s thinking to herself she wouldn’t mind for this flirting to lead to more for just a night, because she hasn’t had the pleasure of that particular sweet release in ages and being around Regina is so no helping her need. It’s frustrating, to say the least. It’s fun, but frustrating. So, so frustrating.

Emma shakes her head, focusing on Lily again, who is in the midst of a story about their local library. She works there part time as hers is a small and uneventful town. Lily is standing very close to her, very much in her personal space, touching her arm.

The hairs on the back of Emma’s neck suddenly seem to rise and before she can turn to look around and search for its cause, an arm slips around her waist and pulls her in tightly. Emma doesn’t even need to look, she’d know that smell anywhere.

Regina.

“Hey, babe,” Regina smiles brightly at Emma. “Who’s your friend?”

Before she even has the time to react to that, or to contemplate how comfortable the embrace feels, Regina cups Emma’s jaw and turns her head so they’re facing each other. Regina’s brown eyes are smoldering with so many emotions, but once again Emma doesn’t get the time to name them.

Because Regina kisses her.

And _how_.

The kiss is soft yet possessive, Regina’s lips every bit as soft as Emma has imagined them to be all this time. Their lips move together and Emma moans as Regina deepens the kiss. Her entire body is on fire, electricity sparkling in the air - or better yet, magic. Yet at the same time, it feels like they’ve been doing this their entire lives.

Emma can’t help herself, doesn’t even want to stop herself from doing it - and kisses Regina back with fervour. Her lips just taste so damn good, and they are so plump. So perfect. Regina’s hand moves to bring her in even closer, and they need a second to breathe - but that second is all they take as they dive in again, together, losing themselves in the kiss.

Regina’s arm still around Emma’s waist, she pulls her into her body tighter and Emma moans when she notices Regina is wearing that infamous green dress again. Regina takes advantage of Emma’s slightly opened mouth to slip her tongue inside and Emma feels like she might just melt into a puddle on the spot. Her own tongue greets Regina’s eagerly, and she takes advantage of the moment to grab Mayor Mill’s magnificent ass. The combined feeling of Regina’s tongue on hers and that perfect ass under her hands sends a jolt of arousal straight to her core. Regina jumps up slightly at the unexpected touch, then smiles into the kiss before turning her head ever so slightly to deepen it. Both of them seem to have forgotten about Lily standing in front of them.

Emma regrets moving her hands, but there’s one other thing she’s been wanting to do for months now. She slides her hands up across Regina’s back and buries them in her hair, nipping at her lips, softly biting, then releasing and kissing again. Damn, Regina’s lips and tongue taste so good, she’s not sure how she will live without this. She knows Regina might be pissed off later that Emma messed up her hair, but you only live once, right?

Emma could almost cry with how right this feels. How much kissing Regina feels like home. Magic has got nothing on this.

None of them notice Lily has wandered over to other people, very clearly having taken the message Regina intended to send.

They’ve gathered the stares of everyone around them by the time they finally break the kiss. They’re breathing heavily, looking each other in the eye, a whirlwind of emotions swirling in green eyes and brown.

“Regina,” Emma finally says softly. “What… I…”

Regina quirks an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth following upwards. “That girl was flirting with you so blatantly, I just wanted to save you from having to turn her down. Because obviously, you can do so much better than her, Sheriff Swan.”

Regina’s eyes sparkle and Emma doesn’t even know where to begin. People around them have gone back to their own business and Emma grins at Regina. “So you think I’m hotter than her, huh?”

Regina scoffs. “Obviously. A blind man can see that, Sheriff Swan.”

**5.**

After swearing Ruby to secrecy, Emma had confided in her what happened at the conference. Her ears might ring for the remainder of her natural life at the screech Ruby let out. It didn’t mean anything, though, Emma is sure of it. Because they didn’t kiss again after that, they just went back to normal. With the added perk of Emma now getting to lord over Regina the fact that Regina’s admitted she’s hot. Regina takes it in stride, once again surprising Emma, who’d expected more of a fight on the subject.

“Oh my god, Emma Swan, you absolute _idiot_ ,” Ruby had groaned. “She _kissed_ you! Madam Mayor _kissed_ you, Sheriff! Of _course_ she likes you! Especially since she kissed you because she saw you flirting with someone. She got jealous and possessive and she kissed you!”

“We’re just… friends, I guess?” Emma had shrugged, not at all comfortable with how badly she wanted it to be more. Because god, what she wouldn’t give to get to kiss Regina like that just one more time.

Ruby had scoffed. “Oh, really, just friends? Tell me, if you and I were out together and you saw a woman flirting with me, even if you thought I could do better, would you kiss me like that?”

“No”, Emma had had to admit, albeit very begrudgingly. Then she had begged Ruby to drop it.

But now, staring at her phone to read the text message for what must be the millionth time, she had to admit that maybe, just maybe, Ruby was onto something and Regina did like her.

**_From: Regina_ **

**_Sheriff Swan, I sincerely hope you either own at least one outfit suitable to the occassion because you are taking me to the Mayor’s Ball._ ** ****

Emma had responded with a cheeky “ _Am I, now?_ ” Knowing full well that she definitely was as soon as Regina had announced it. How could she care about being whipped if Regina is the woman she’s whipped by? Ruby had fake gagged when Emma shared that and rolled her eyes pointing out they weren’t even together yet, so she wasn’t sure she could stand to be around for that. Emma had just punched Ruby in the arm playfully, so Ruby had punched Emma back, and all was well.

Regina had called Emma after that text, informing her sheriff that yes, she was most definitely taking Regina to the Mayor’s Ball because she could not very well show up at her own ball without a date.

Emma contemplated pointing out that first of all, literally any single person in Storybrooke would kill to be her date and if not, would be her date for fear of being killed when declining. But she wasn’t going to give Regina any ideas.

So here she is, at the mayor’s mansion, flowers in hand, dressed to the nines, nervous like a damn teenager going on her first date. She had actually shopped for a dress for this thing, not owning anything remotely suited to the occassion.

And then when she found the black dress she was currently wearing, she had even called Regina to coordinate and make sure that worked with what Regina would be wearing, so that they wouldn’t clash. Regina had pointed out that black would be wonderful and that it doesn’t clash with anything. Emma had felt a bit sheepish at that, but not regretted the phone call because she’d gotten to hear Regina’s smooth voice and _oh my god what is happening to me_ , she had groaned internally.

Seconds after ringing the doorbell, Regina opens it and Emma makes a mental note of the fact that she had clearly been waiting and hadn’t bothered to try and hide that fact.

“Miss Swan,” Regina smiles, openly and genuinely. “Right on time. Who would have thought?”

But Emma is too stunned by Regina’s utterly and completely otherwordly beauty to even get anywhere near the ability to formulate words. Regina’s wearing a deeply purple dress, hugging her body in all the right places, plunging at the neckline - enough to make Emma’s head spin, but not so much that she’d worry about other people ogling her - her what, exactly?

Emma shakes out it, offers Regina and smile and hands her the flowers. “I could offer you about a million smooth lines, Miss Mills, but none of them could ever dream of doing you justice. I’ll settle for telling you that you look stunning, but know that that is the understatement of the past thousand or so years.”

Regina laughs at that. “And somehow you still found a smooth line,” she winks. “Thank you for the flowers. They’re almost as beautiful as you.”

Emma rolls her eyes, but can’t hide a grin. “Why thank you, Madam Mayor. You ready?”

Regina takes a minute to put the flowers in a vase and then follows Emma outside. She frowns, not seeing Emma’s car anywhere. Her frown deepens when Emma leads her to an unfamiliar car, this black Mercedes far classier than the bug Regina had complained about every day she spent in it next to Emma on those drives.

“Did you a buy a new car? When did that happen?” Regina asks curiously. “I had no idea you were even thinking about that!”

“You don’t know half of what goes on in my mind, Regina,” Emma says suggestively, but moves on before Regina can respond to that. She opens the car door for her. “I didn’t buy a new car, I didn’t suddenly win the lottery or anything. I rented this one. I figured since this is the Mayor’s Ball and you are the mayor, we couldn’t show up in the bug.”

Regina settles inside. “We could have just taken my Mercedes, you know,” she points out to Emma.

“Huh,” Emma ponders as she slides into her seat. “I guess that’s true. I didn’t think of that. Then again, your car isn’t the most reliable, is it? After all, Michael never did figure out what was wrong with it a few months ago. Just started working again, but you never know when it might break down again.”

Emma starts the car and the radio drowns out whatever Regina mutters under her breath, though Emma could swear it was something to do with the insufferable state of her bug, but she decides not to comment on how that stings a little. Because they’re close enough now that Regina doesn’t mean to hurt Emma’s feelings when describing her beloved car as a death trap.

They arrive at the Mayor’s Ball together, causing quite a bit of confusion among the residents of Storybrooke. Sure, people have seen their mayor and sheriff spend a lot of time together lately, but nobody thought much of it until now. They make a striking power couple, and Emma is surprised at how little effort Regina makes to clear up this confusion.

Emma has a lot more fun than she was expecting. They dance, a lot, and Regina has slightly too much to drink. Not enough to lose control - this is still Regina Mills. But enough to have a happy buzz going on. Emma is sober throughout as she needs to drive them back at the end of the evening, but having the time of her life nonetheless.

They spend time with friends and Regina talks to the people of Storybrooke, but most of their time is spent together. Emma feels ridiculously proud that this goddess of a woman is _her_ date, even if they’re just friends. Friends who shared a really, really, really hot kiss.

As the evening goes on, the dancing becomes more intense, and Emma actually has to excuse herself to get some fresh air. She needs a few minutes of respite, because she’s not sure how much longer she can keep herself from ravising Regina on the dance floor.

Ruby joins her outside, a glint in her eyes. “You sure you’re not a couple, Swan?”

Emma smiles sadly. “Yeah Rubes, I’m sure.”

Ruby rolls her eyes. “Don’t be so glum. She asked you out on a date - and not any date, but the Mayor’s Ball! Literally everyone in Storybrooke is here, and she shows up with you.”

Before Emma can respond, Ruby looks over her shoulder and nudges her friend. “Regina’s coming over,” she warns her.

Emma turns around and even though they’ve spent the entire evening together, her breath is still taken away at the divine vision that is Regina Mills. Without saying another word, Ruby disappears to give them their space.

“Are you okay, Emma?” Regina asks, her voice etched with worry. It’s not lost on Emma that she uses her first name, to this day a rare occurrence.

“Yeah,” Emma smiles faintly. “Just needed a minute. You should head back inside, you’re the ma-“ Emma is shut up mid sentence by Regina’s lips. On hers. Again.

The kiss is different - a little more needy, a lot more craving. “Is this okay?” Regina mutters.

Emma is too stunned to respond right away. Regina chuckles awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I’ve been dying to do that ever since I opened the door tonight.”

Emma snaps out of it. “Oh, the feeling is mutual, Madam Mayor.” And she returns the kiss, this time with all the passion and need the last one held. Times one hundred, with nobody around.

She’s not sure right now what this means, for them, but it doesn’t matter in this moment. In this moment, it’s just Regina and Emma, kissing as if tomorrow will never come. Exactly the way they were always supposed to be.


End file.
